Aberdeen man's railroad memorabilia on track to Northern State University

March 05, 2013|By Calvin Men, calvinmen@aberdeennews.com

American News PHoto by Calvin Men

Filed away at the Beulah Williams Library are decades' worth of railroad schematics, ledgers and plans donated by an Aberdeen resident devoted to preserving the history of the city's railroads.

George Nikolas, 89, worked with railroad companies and state rail boards in South Dakota for more than 70 years. He amassed his collection of documents over that career, keeping each piece of paper from every meeting. His collection fills more than 30 cardboard boxes and tubes.

"At the time, I never thought about the posterity looking at these things," said Nikolas. "I had answered a lot of questions for the railroad. (People would) call me and ask questions, and I wanted to give them good information, so I had it out in my garage."

After he graduated from Central High School in June 1941, he started work in September as an 18-year-old unloading meat, vegetables, dried goods and other things shipped through the freight house.

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Two years later, he was drafted by the U.S. Army to fight in World War II. In his three years with the Army, he traveled through the United Kingdom, France and Germany, collecting memories and memorabilia. He said he is one of the few remaining members of the original 3rd Platoon, D Company of the 310th Infantry. The collection he donated also includes photographs from his time in the war and other items.

One of the photos he takes pride in is a portrait of himself holding more than a dozen fish. The photo was taken in Germany in the months after the end of the war. The fish were caught when one of Nikolas' friends tossed a grenade into a lake, he said.

"You can catch more fish with a grenade than with minnows," he said.

After he returned from the war in January 1946, he started work at the Milwaukee Railroad company in March that year.

"I enjoyed working for the railroad. I liked doing what I did," he said.

In his 42 years working with the railroad, he filled in for a variety of roles, such as an engineering, accounting, safety and other odd jobs.

His favorite job: a field engineer.

"I liked them all, but I think I'd say that when I was a field engineer, there were so many diversified things you got onto that I really enjoyed that probably the most," he said.

In the role, he dealt with maintenance issues on the tracks, clearing snow off the tracks and train derailments at all hours of the day.

"Sometimes, I went to work at 8 a.m. Sometimes, when there was an accident or derailment or snow problems or water problems, I never slept until we got done," he said.

Still, he enjoyed getting up in the morning for work.

"It's not a sin to like your job, you know," he said.

His least favorite job: a yard clerk. It was his duty to mark the cars at night to indicate which track they would go on to when trains were broken apart, he said. It was a treacherous job that had Nikolas walking between rail cars with nothing more than a lamp and the night sky to light his way.

"You had a lamp. But there was no lights like you see now in the yard," he said.

And sometimes the cars would move, and you couldn't hear them coming, he said.

While he worked at the railroad, Nikolas would come across documents that were handed to him. For years he kept the documents in boxes in the back of his garage, occasionally diving back into them when someone had a question regarding the history of the railroad. At times, there were students from Central, Roncalli or Northern who knocked on his door and asked him about the history.

"I figured it was kind of a service to the public, and I always felt that I was kind of a civic-minded person," he said.

The collection he maintained was meticulously kept, with things organized into manila folders and three-ring binders. Through the years, he's had an idea of where each piece of his railroad history was kept.

"I had a pretty good idea. Now, I wouldn't be so sharp," he said with grin.

As far as giving the collection to the library, Nikolas won't miss the documents.

"No, hell no. You do that because you pass it onto somebody. I couldn't take it to the grave with me. I'm glad maybe somebody might look at that some day," he said.

For the most part, the collection centers on Nikolas' time working on the railroad.

"This is something very personal, something that is very involved in railroad history," said Lynn Klundt, a librarian at Northern. "Especially the maps. The maps are very special. There's some blueprint maps that we have from as early as the beginning of Aberdeen."

Among the more rare items donated are blueprints and maps detailing sections of the railroad. She added some might even be one of a kind.

The library plans to digitize the documents for preservation and public access.